Heart of Steel
by Kalgante
Summary: Sniffles has been rejected by every girl in tree town "if i can't find a girlfriend, why not just make one" how will this machine fare when her independence drives her to search for one she can truly love or more importantly, someone who can love her back
1. Artificial Tree Friend

[Hello all. I decided to start up another story. This one came to me as I thought about stuff for Love You to Death and I just had to do it. Contrary to every one of my stories so far this one is not an OC story, anyways, here you go]

**One year ago**

In the cold quiet of his dimly lit lab, a blue anteater worked on his latest project. Never one lucky with the women, he wasn't tough to be around and was valued for his intelligence but he was just not appealing to the opposite sex. There had been a number of attempts at a girl friend on a number of different occasions, but they had always ended in rejection. With love, his heart was shattered and desperate but held no spite. He figured that if he couldn't find a girlfriend, he'd make one instead. One who would share his feelings and be as real as he could possibly make. Through months of study and a little assistance from the rat, a contact with the black market, he finally had everything he needed to finally realize the fruits of his toil.

The anteater leaned over his desk, pen in hand it was time to construct her. She needed to be as real as possible, and perfect in his eyes. A picture of his crush sat on his desk as a reference, a blue skunk named Petunia. She would be the base of his design. But something felt wrong to him. He didn't want to just remake Petunia, she needed to be his. He thinks of ways to change her when he get's an idea. Another photograph, this one of a red porcupine named Flaky, he had always loved her elegant quills, minus the dandruff, they would be perfect. He drew, drew for hours leading into days to perfect his design. In the end, her blueprint made her appear more beautiful than he had imagined. He dubbed her tree bot 04 code named Valerie. She would be perfect. She would have synthetic blood, skin, and fur. He designed a system to replicate a digestion process that acquired energy through food. She would have emotions and a personality all her own. She would be as real as possible. However before he could begin construction it had dawned on him. She was a machine, and if 'killed' she would not return to life. The anteater returned to the design to see what could be done.

Her skin and fur would need to remain soft and her body warm. Yet she needed to be durable, more durable than any tree friend. The solution would be her internal components, highly durable bone structures, muscle systems, and organs. He couldn't be satisfied until she was capable of taking a locomotive head on without injury. Then came the matter of Flippy, an unstable W.A.R. veteran who wouldn't hesitate to kill anything if triggered. She needed weapons as well, he would modify weapon like features she would already possess as well as equip her with others. The anteater would risk nothing and pull no punches in her creation.

**One month ago**

Several long, tireless, painstaking months had passed and finally she was here. In an enclosed pod getting her finishing touches, now was the time the anteater would see her. His creation in her complete form. Slowly the chamber depressurized and opened and the creature, for the first time, awoke.

She was blue like her base but unlike her base had silver as well. A silver belly and silver stripes along her head, back, and tail. There were even silver lines on the tops of her long elegant quills, all neatly aligned with tips facing downward. Her eyes wandered and her mind stayed blank as she surveyed the lab. To the anteater she was even more beautiful than he had imagined. She looked just like a real tree friend. Her eyes locked onto the anteater as her artificial brain processed a massive cache of information.

"Name Tree Bot 04 designated, Valerie. Blue anteater designated Sniffles. Hello" said Valerie.

**Present Day**

It had been one month since Valerie's 'birth'. Sniffles kept her in his lab to observe her progress before bringing her out into the world. Today was the day she would be brought out and the day of her conception. Sniffles had been making sure everything worked. She had personality, she had thought, he had frequently forgotten that she was a machine. She had grown well in the month that she had been conscious and had fully developed mental processes.

Sniffles entered the kitchen as Valerie stared through the window from her position in a chair. Her head turned to him as he approached.

"I'm ready Sniffles?" Valerie asked her sweet voice in monotone with a slight pitch of emotion as always was.

"Almost" Sniffles replied happily as he pulled out a large bow and a ribbon from behind his back.

Valerie stared at the items in his hand.

"For me?" Valerie asked.

Sniffles nodded and tied the silky light blue ribbon around her neck. In a large bow. He also worked the large, darker blue ribbon behind her right ear.

"There we go" said Sniffles.

"Thank you" said Valerie "Sniffles, is it safe for me out there you have told me that it is dangerous out there you. Are the others out there dangerous. Will I be ok?"

Sniffles was silent. He had been attached to the robot ever since her conception and his worst fear was to loose her. He had spent hours lecturing her about the dangers outside for that reason. However only now did he realize that she would be exposed to it all. She had been relatively safe inside and was suddenly being choked with fear.

"Will we be going then? I have been waiting all week" she said rising to her feet.

"Umm… next week" said Sniffles.

"You promised me for my birth day we would go. I do not understand" said Valerie.

"Umm… next week is just better" said Sniffles.

Valerie nearly teared.

"Why would you tell me this if we weren't going to go. Today is good. The weather is a comfortable sixty five degrees Fahrenheit and the sun is obstructed by the clouds." said Valerie.

"I said next week Valerie!" Sniffles shouted as if she was more of a child than a girlfriend… then again he had never made that official.

"I've seen others outside playing. They looked like they were having fun, I want to have fun too, don't you Sniffles" said Valerie.

"No Valerie! We're staying here! Now come with me to the lab!" Sniffles ordered.

"You promised me that next time I went there we would have new sheets for my bed and a thick blanket, let's go shopping" said Valerie turning to the door and beginning to open it.

"No Valerie!" Sniffles shouted furiously and grabbed her hand.

This act struck her with terror and her reaction to such a fright was self defense. She tapped into her programming and found specific data for defense from behind, with little control over her programming of this type she used everything she had in the program.

In a split second after sniffles grabbed her, her quills shot out at him, her tail raised, and she bathed him in spray. This wasn't regular skunk spray however as he had modified her to have a flamethrower mixed in as well.

Sniffles wailed in pain as he staggered back on fire and with quills sticking through him. He attempted to roll on the ground but the barbed quills prevented this and he could barely move. Valerie stared at him feeling an emotion that she could not yet identify. She watched as Sniffles slowly stopped struggling and after a few minutes, died. Valerie kneeled down beside him.

"I am sorry Sniffles, I will be back later ok." said Valerie.

She stood up and opened the door. Today was going to be her first day outside.

[so how was it? Hope it's worth continuing. Anyways let me know what you think, see ya!]


	2. My First Day Out Doors

[alright, I'm glad people liked this! Anyway, here's chapter 2]

The second she stepped outdoors her senses were overcome with sensations she had only heard Sniffles tell her about. The wind in her face and the scent of freshly bloomed flowers overcame her and filled her with a sense of joy she had never felt before. With so many new sensations Valerie could do nothing but take in the scenery.

Across the street she noticed a yellow rabbit with a pink chipmunk by his side.

"Friends?" Valerie asked herself.

A smile spread across her face and she trotted off of the porch. She stopped for a moment to look at a dandelion on the lawn and picked it. She continued to the road and began jogging across, just as a green pickup truck driven by the brainless blue moose sped towards her. The two across the street noticed this and shouted for her to move. Valerie's head turned to the vehicle just as it had made impact . The truck sent her rolling over it's hood and made her shatter the windshield. The truck swerved out of control hitting a light post and sending Valerie and the driver soaring onto the lawn. For a moment there was silence as the two across the street hurried towards them. to their surprise, this porcupine/ skunk thing had begun to move. Valerie raised her arm and pressed her hand against the ground as she pushed herself up. She turned her head to her quills to see the blue moose impaled on them. She reached back and slid the corpse off of herself then turned to it.

"I am sorry moose" she said staring at the body.

Valerie's head turned to the rabbit and chipmunk that had come to her aid.

"Are you alright?" the chipmunk asked.

"Damage nominal, code white repairs adequate, thank you for asking Mrs. Chipmunk" Valerie replied.

The two gave her an odd look.

"So umm, are you new here?" the rabbit asked.

"I have been here for a month, this is my first time outside, it is my birthday" Valerie said.

The rabbit and chipmunk glanced at one another.

"Well happy birthday umm… what's your name?" Giggles asked.

"Thank you, my name is Valerie. What is your name?" Valerie asked in her sweet monotone voice.

"Oh I'm Giggles, It's nice to see a new face in town" said Giggles.

"I'm cuddles, glad to meet you" said Cuddles.

"Giggles chipmunk, Cuddles bunny, can we be friends?" Valerie asked.

"Oh, it's just Giggles, not Giggles chipmunk. Same goes for Cuddles" Giggles pointed out.

"Giggles… Cuddles?" Valerie said.

"Yep that's right, and yea, let's be friends" said Giggles happily.

Valerie formed a wide smile.

"Thank you" Valerie said.

"Your welcome, hey, you like sports?" Cuddles asked.

"Sports are fun" Valerie replied.

"Sweet, I'll get a game going" said Cuddles.

"Wait a minute Cuddles, it's her first day in town, I'm sure she doesn't want to spend it playing sports with you, let's show her around town" Giggles suggested.

"Awe hell, I know where this is gonna go, if we find toothy I'm taking his lazy ass along with us" said Cuddles.

"Awe, stop your wining, it's not going to be anything like that. let's go Valerie" said Giggles.

Giggles turned with a wide grin while Cuddles anxiously scratched his head. Valerie watched the two walk away for a moment then began to follow. They made their way further down the sidewalk when Cuddles seen a chance to cross the road. Just as he was about to run over Valerie grabbed him by his ear.

"Hey, what's that all about" cuddles complained.

"The road is bad. Wait for a cross walk then look both ways" said Valerie.

"You're kidding, you were just hit by a truck by not doing that, since when are you all Mrs. crossing guard" said Cuddles.

"My name is not Mrs. Crossi-" Valerie was saying.

"Leave her alone Cuddles. And she's right, this is our day out, I don't want you getting killed if you can actually help it" said Giggles.

"Fine" Cuddles moaned.

The group suddenly heard a loud growl and looked to Valerie who was looking down to her stomach.

"My belly is making noises… I think I'm hungry" said Valerie.

Giggles looked away and giggled to herself.

"Looks like we have our first stop… oh but I think I left my money at home. Will you pay us fuzzy bunny?" Giggles asked to cuddles.

"Yep, I knew this was coming" said Cuddles.

"Yay, thanks" said Giggles happily.

Cuddles was about to speak but just kept his mouth shut as the girls lead him into town. Valerie's eyes and thoughts wandered as she made her way through town. Giggles had a difficult time keeping her on track as she would stop to read posters and stare at flower displays.

"You're sure excited, don't worry, we can go shopping after we eat, we have the whole day ahead of us" said giggles.

"Shopping? that sounds fun" said Valerie.

"Oh it is, especially when you have someone to carry all of it" Giggles whispered.

"What was that?" Cuddles asked.

"Oh it's nothing Cuddles, now let's go eat" said Giggles.

The three made their way further into town though Valerie still couldn't help touching everything. They eventually came to Happy Tree Diner and stopped at the door.

"Oh, Valerie, you may wanna clean the blood off your quills" Giggles suggested.

Valerie looked behind her to see the blood.

"Just use the fountain over there. That's what I do" said Cuddles.

Valerie noticed the fountain and made her way over to it. She climbed inside and washed off her quills before returning to the two waiting for her. Afterwards they entered and sat down at the counter. Valerie watched the two cooks mill around doing their job. One was a blue skunk and the other was a green bear. The skunk noticed the group sitting there and sent Valerie a curious look before she made her way over.

"Hey Petunia… work's with Flippy today huh?" Giggles said.

"Uhh I know, I'm stressing sooo bad. I've got to be so careful about what I do. I can't even clean without worrying that he'll think the spray bottle's a gun… don't worry though. I cleaned the counters before he showed up… so who's this?" Petunia asked.

"This is Valerie, she's new to town. Valerie, this is my BFF Petunia… hey, come to think of it you two look a lot alike" said Giggles.

The two girls looked at each other Petunia inspecting Valerie more than Valerie inspected her. Giggles gave a curious 'hmm' and shrugged.

"Welcome to town Valerie. You were lucky you met Giggles so fast, she's awesome… speaking of which we should go out for a picnic or something sometime" said Petunia.

"That's be neat, we could all hang out and get to know you Valerie. Hey Petunia, we're going shopping after this, wanna come?" Giggles asked.

"Believe me, I'd love to… but I signed up to do this all day, I won't get paid if I leave early" Petunia explained.

"Yea, I see. We're gonna have to plan a girls day out soon" said Giggles.

"I'm up for it… so anyway, what'll it be?" Petunia asked.

"I'll get what I usually get" said Giggles.

"Yea, same for me" said Cuddles.

Valerie read the menu unable to decide as she had never tried most of these.

"I think i want this one, and this one and this one" said Valerie.

"Whoa, three meals… well I'm not paying, go for it" said Giggles.

"You've gotta be kidding me" said Cuddles.

"Oh just be quiet, she hasn't tasted our towns food yet. And you can't blame her if she's hungry" said Giggles.

Petunia wrote down the orders.

"Alright Flippy, we've got a few more orders" said Petunia.

Flippy turned his attention to Petunia and noticed the unfamiliar face with Giggles and Cuddles.

"Alright Petunia" said Flippy.

The two had begun cooking while Giggles, Valerie, and Cuddles waited. After a period of time Flippy had left the cooking to Petunia and made his way over to the group.

"Hey Cuddles, hey Giggles, how are you doing?" Flippy asked.

"Hey Flippy. we're good for the most part. We're showing the new girl around town, her name's Valerie" said Cuddles.

"Hello Valerie. I'm Flippy, nice to meet you" said Flippy.

"Hello Flippy" said Valerie.

"How are you liking the town?" Flippy asked.

"It's fun" Valerie replied.

"I'm glad you think so… it can be pretty hard around here sometimes though… anyway, I hope you make a lot of friends here" said Flippy.

"Can you and Petunia be my friends?" Valerie asked.

Flippy laughed.

"Sure, I can be your friend. I'm sure Petunia would love to be your friend too" said Flippy in good humor.

"Shouldn't you be working?" Giggles asked.

"Ha ha yep, you guys take care" said Flippy returning to the stove.

"Flippy and Petunia are nice" said Valerie.

"Well… mostly. Something you should know though. Flippy is… unstable. Just don't do anything that will remind him of war. If you do, he'll go nuts and try to kill everyone" Giggles said under her breath.

Flippy glanced at them and his face showed a look of concern.

"I see… I will be careful-" said Valerie before giggles covered her mouth.

"Shh, don't go around talking about it" Giggles whispered.

"Ok" said Valerie.

They waited only a few more minutes before their food arrived and had begun eating. Valerie ate vigorously drawing glances from others in the in the room.

"You should slow down on eating, you could choke" said Giggles.

"I can choke… sorry giggles chipmunk" said Valerie.

"Just Giggles" said Giggles.

"Oh yes, I'm sorry Giggles" said Valerie who had begun eating normally.

With that taken care of Giggles and Cuddles could finally return their attention to eating. An hour passed until Valerie finally finished. She took a breath and sat back.

"My tummy hurts" said Valerie.

"I'll say, you just ate food for three people. You look like you swallowed a soccer ball" said Giggles pointing to Valerie's bulging gut.

Valerie looked down at her stomach.

"Oops" she said.

"Well are you ready to go shopping or do you want to wait a bit?" Giggles asked.

"Let's go" said Valerie.

"Alright, I won't argue. Cuddles, if you don't mind" Giggles hinted.

"You know you owe me for all of this… and you're lucky I've been working a lot lately" said Cuddles.

"Don't worry, I'll find a way to pay you back. Now let's go buy stuff" said Giggles.

Just as they were about to leave Valerie burped which sounded throughout the room. Afterwards her face turned beat red and she looked around the room.

"Well that was real pretty, come on gassy" said Giggles taking Valerie by the hand.

"I'm sorry" said Valerie.

The group made it outside and Giggles led the way to the first store on her mind. As it was it was near the diner. She rushed inside with Valerie by the hand and started looking around.

"What is this?" Valerie asked.

"A clothing store… they should have the spring line in… or maybe that was tomorrow, argh, I can't remember. Here, let's see if anything looks good on you. Over here" Giggles directed.

Valerie looked around at a pair of white pajamas with pictures of yellow rubber ducks on them.

"I want these" said Valerie.

"Those are PJ's, that's not what we're here to get. Though they are adorable. Here, let's see if they have anything like that for porcupines" said Giggles.

"Why can't I get these?" Valerie asked.

"Because your quills will tear them apart" Giggles replied.

Valerie looked back at the pajamas and turned to follow Giggles.

"Hey Valerie, here's a pajama set you might like. This one has puppies on it" said giggles.

Valerie looked at it and smiled then rubbed against her face.

"It's nice and soft" Valerie said.

"Yep, we can get you that if you'd like" said Giggles.

The girls ran around, mostly Valerie following Giggles, picking out things that Valerie might look good in. Valerie didn't have a hard time selecting anything as she liked it all and Giggles made sure she had a lot. Eventually Giggles settled and started trying to pick things out for herself. She grabbed an armload of clothes and began trying them on.

"Hmm… what do you think of this one Valerie?" Giggles asked.

"It looks good" said Valerie.

"You think so… I think it draws too much attention, like are people looking at me or the shirt" said Giggles.

"I think it looks good" said Valerie.

Giggles sighed and removed the shirt to replace with another one.

"How about this one?" Giggles asked.

"I like it" said Valerie.

"Why do you like it?" Giggles asked.

"It looks good" Valerie replied.

"You're terrible at this you know that?" Giggles asked.

"I'm sorry" said Valerie.

As the two continued to shop Cuddles sat beside the door bored out of his mind. To his relief however the door open and in walked toothy.

"Toothy? What are you doing here?" Cuddles asked.

"Wah, Cuddles… wh-why are you here?" asked toothy.

"I'm here with Giggles and her new friend. What's your excuse?" cuddles asked.

"Umm…er, well I guess I can let you know. Umm…" Toothy started.

"Well, say something… you're starting to creep me out man" said Cuddles.

"I-it's not what you think, umm… you know umm… Lammy right?" Toothy asked.

"Yep" Cuddles replied.

"Well… I'm… kinda trying to find a present for her… you don't happen to know what she likes do you?" Toothy asked.

"Oh thank god… no how would I know anything like that?" Cuddles asked.

"Umm… err, never mind. It was a stupid idea anyway" said Toothy making his way back outside.

"Hang on Toothy. Why don't you hang out with us, these two are driving me crazy" said Cuddles.

"Umm... Ok" Toothy replied.

Giggles and Valerie continued their shopping until they had finally finished. During which they completely lost track of time. They motioned for cuddles who somewhat reluctantly paid for their things.

"Alright looks like you found Toothy" said Giggles.

"Cuddles… you are an ass" said Toothy.

Cuddles laughed.

Giggles handed them the bags which they lazily took.

"Alright, to the candy store next" said giggles.

The group moved out and towards the candy store. Toothy complained the entire way making Cuddles laugh.. This next stop however benefited them all which was somewhat settling to the disgruntled boys. They arrived shortly and Giggles again took Valerie by the hand and dragged her around the store. Valerie didn't know what to make of all the different types of candies she was seeing but her mouth began to water at the sight of it all.

"Alright Valerie, take a bag and fill it up with as much candy as you want. There's also chocolate over there" said Giggles.

Valerie immediately began to fill her bag up with whatever she could find. Cuddles was also quite frantic with his candy gathering. Toothy however was much more tame about it.

"So who's the new girl?" Toothy asked.

"Valerie… she's kinda weird but I like her" said Cuddles.

"Do you think I should get something here for Lammy… maybe a jawbreaker pop" said Toothy.

"Go for it, you can never go wrong with candy" said Cuddles.

"Ha ha, Jeeze Valerie, you'd think this was your first time in a candy store" said Giggles.

"It is" Valerie replied.

"Seriously! Wow, looks like you've been missing out on a lot, thankfully I'll be able to show you all kinds of things you've probably missed" said Giggles.

Valerie smiled and the two made their way to the counter to make their purchases. Toothy and Cuddles had already made theirs and waited for the girls. Afterwards the group made their way out the door telling each other about the candy they had purchased.. A little ways up the street however they came across a common scene in the town, A corpse. This one of an otter with a tree branch through his eye.

"Looks like Russell got wiped" said Cuddles.

"Awe, poor Russell" said Giggles.

"Is Russell otter hurt?" Valerie asked.

"No, he's dead… wonder how this happened anyway, I'll have to ask him" said Cuddles.

Valerie stared at the corpse then looked around the area to see a purple deer with a striped shirt and white face paint manning a balloon cart. Valerie approached a crosswalk and crossed the street to the deer. The deer looked at her with a smile as she inspected the balloons. She reached out her hand and grabbed hold of three of them. All saying 'get well soon'.

"May I have these?" Valerie asked.

The deer began to motion digging to his pocket and pulling something out. He then motioned opening something and removing something from it, then motioned handing it to Valerie. Valerie responded by reaching out her hand and shaking his. The deer gave her a puzzled look and noticed the cluelessness in her eyes. The deer just smiled and motioned her off. Valerie looked to the direction he was motioning to and looked even more confused. The deer gave a humored yet puzzled look then took her by the hand and pushed her onward then waved goodbye. This motion Valerie was able to recognize and she waved back. She returned across the street with the rest of the group.

"What was that all about?" giggles asked.

"The deer gave me balloons" said Valerie.

Valerie turned to the corpse of Russell and tied a 'get well soon' balloon onto his wrist.

"Ha ha ha, what's that for?" Giggles asked.

"I want him to get better" said Valerie.

"Ha ha, come on crazy girl" said Giggles.

The group moved on until they came to a T intersection in the road.

"Oh jeeze, it's starting to get late. Let's walk you home, where do you live?" Giggles asked.

"I live with Sniffles" Valerie replied.

"Oh yea, alright, let's go there" said Giggles.

the group made their way towards Sniffles house. As they neared it however they were approached by a candy covered green squirrel.

"Awe crap" said Toothy.

The squirrel's eyes locked onto the bags they were carrying and he immediately recognized them. The squirrel smiled and began laughing excitedly as he made his way over to them.

"Hey, you guys have candy, can I have some? can I? can I?" the squirrel asked excitedly.

Giggles and Toothy groaned.

"You want candy?" Valerie asked.

"Yep, yep" said the squirrel.

Valerie opened her bag and looked around inside, deciding on a large lollypop.

"Here you go" Valerie said.

"Woo hoo! Thank you thank you!" said the squirrel excitedly shoving the pop into his mouth.

The squirrel then continued on his way.

"Thanks for that Valerie. Nutty can be a huge pain when it comes to this" said Giggles.

"Your welcome" Valerie said.

The group continued on until they approached Sniffles's house. Valerie approached the corpse of Lumpy and tied a balloon around his wrist.

"Ha ha. Well here you are Valerie" said Giggles.

"Thank you all. It was fun today" said Valerie.

"I'm glad you thought so. I'm glad we met" said Giggles.

"Take care of yourself Valerie" said cuddles.

The group waved goodbye to Valerie and she waved back. She took another look at the corpse of the moose and made her way into the house. Just in the doorway laid the charred corpse of Sniffles. Valerie kneeled down and tied the last balloon to his wrist.

"I had a lot of fun today Sniffles. Maybe tomorrow we can go outside again and have fun again. Get well Sniffles" said Valerie.

She picked up the corpse of Sniffles and carried it up stairs to his bed and laid it down. She then returned to her room and sighed that she didn't get the new things she was promised. Still, she smiled and laid down in her bed for the night.

[there we go. Hope you liked it. Somehow… I don't feel content without leaving authors notes… anyway, hope you liked it. Goodbye all!]


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